I almost wanted to give this book a 5--it is very good. However, I was also reading "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" simultaneously, and they are very different kinds of books. "Cape Cod" is a true 'slice of life' book--a story about a 30 year marriage, bad parents, good parents, perplexing life situations, unrequited love, and marriages that are doomed to fail from the start. Although Richard Russo writes in a totally different way than Ann Tyler, this is that sort of book--an exploration of an all too human man who doesn't have the life he thought he would have when he was younger and how he views what went wrong and what went right.

The portrait of his parents is a spot-on portrait of two people who should have never had a baby, and are utterly absorbed in themselves and their quarrelsome relationship.

There's a lovely story within a story about Griffiin's temporary best friend one summer at the Cape--this story alone makes it worth reading the whole book, which is excellent anyway.